A
Civil Action (1998).
Starring John Travolta, Robert Duvall. A well
told story based on Jonathan Harr's book of a
true story involving a class action lawsuit
against environmental polluters that involves
multiple ups and downs including the potential
bankruptcy of the lawyer (played by John
Travolta) handling the case. Read Roger
Ebert's review (3.5 out of 4 stars).

Class
Action (1991). Starring Gene
Hackman, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio. An
unlikely scenario where father and daughter
act on opposite sides on a products liability
case involving cars that explode. He is the
liberal plaintiff's lawyer, representing the
underdog, she is a corporate type, acting for
the defendant. Read Roger
Ebert's review (3 out of 4 stars).

Liar,
Liar (1997). Starring Jim
Carrey. A young boys wish that his father not
be able to lie for 24 hours comes true but
haunts his father (played by Carrey), a lawyer
whose court appearances require him to "bend
the truth" on behalf of his client. Some
fairly funny courtroom scenes involving
Carrey. Read Roger
Ebert's review (3 out of 4 stars).

Miracle
on 34th Street (1994).
Starring Richard Attenborough as Kris Kringle.
This modern remake of the 1934 "classic"
recounts the story of a young girl who
questions the existence of Santa Clause. When
the Macy's Santa Clause, who claims to be the
real Kris Kringle, is institutionalized, he is
defended in court by the boyfriend of the
young girl's mother who tries to prove his
client is not insane. Read Roger
Ebert's review (3 out of 4 stars).

Misconduct
(2016). Starring Josh
Duhamel, Anthony Hopkins, Al Pacino. This
drama appears to involve a pharmaceutical
executive caught up in blackmail and a class
action lawsuit, as per its
Wikipedia entry. I say "appears" since
I have not yet seen it, and although it is
on Netflix
Canada, (after what appeared to
be a very limited theatrical release), it
hovers only in the
7% approval rating range on Rotten
Tomatoes so I will eventually try to
watch it.

North
Country (2005): For
some reason, I was never a huge fan of
Charlize Theron, but she does a good job in
this story as a mistreated female employee
in a male-dominated workforce in a mine in
Minnesota, based on a true story, that
resulted in the first class action sexual
harassment lawsuit in the United States (the
Wikipedia entry
here has a nice overview of the
real-life lawsuit). Read Roger Ebert's
review
here.

The
Rainmaker (1997). Starring
Matt Damon and Danny DeVito. A dramatization
of the John Grisham novel that tells the story
of a young lawyer (played by Damon) who teams
up with a grizzled veteran (played by DeVito)
to take a case against an insurance company
that is denying medical coverage for a dying
boy. Read Roger
Ebert's review (3 out of 4 stars).

The Social Network
(2010). Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew
Garfield and Justin Timberlake and directed by
David Fincher with a screenplay by Aaron
Sorkin. This dramatization of the early days
in the history of Facebook is told largely
through flashbacks from examination for
discovery transcripts related to lawsuits
between the founders of Facebook, including
Mark Zuckerberg (played by Jesse Eisenberg).
Aside from the litigation issues itself, there
are stories of legal intrigue relating to
private equity investment and the role played
by Sean Parker of Napster fame (played by
Justin Timberlake). issues of intellectual
property, and issues of privacy law.

The
Trial (1963). Starring
Anthony Perkins. Directed by Orson Welles.
Based on the classic novel by Franz Kafka, it
tells the nightmarish story of Josef K who is
arrested one morning and put on trial despite
never really knowing what the charges are. A
must view (or read) for any law student. Read
Roger Ebert's 4 out of 4 stars review here.

Trial and Error
(1997). A fairly silly comedy in which Michael
Richards, who plays an actor, agrees to step
in and "act" in place of his friend, a lawyer
played by Jeff Daniels, who is sick/hungover
and cannot appear in court. Hilarity ensues
since, as can be imagined, the Michael
Richards character of course knows nothing of
trial procedure or the law. Roger Ebert's 3
star review is
here.

The
Verdict (1982). Starring
Paul Newman, James Mason. Directed by Sidney
Lumet. A good courtroom drama involving Paul
Newman as a down-and-out lawyer who is forced
to "crash" funerals and wakes looking to drum
up business. When he takes a medical
malpractice case on a contingency basis, he
encounters a strong defence from the
defendant. Make sure to yell "objection" in a
loud voice during some of the courtroom scenes
where rules of civil procedure are ignored in
favour of dramatic tension. Read Roger Ebert's
4 star review
here.

The
Paper Chase (1973). Starring
Timothy Bottoms, Lindsay "The Bionic Woman"
Wagner and John Houseman as Professor
Kingsfield. The now classic "must see" movie
for law students about the struggles of a
first-year law student and the battles he
faces with his contracts professor (especially
after he finds out he has been dating his
daughter). Now somewhat dated, it is still a
lot of fun to watch. Note the scenes with the
law librarian. Parts of the movie were filmed
in Toronto. Houseman won the Academy Award for
his performance. Read the original New
York Times review
here.

Shrek Forever After
(2010). In
Shrek and the Law of Contract, Dr Eoin
O’Dell neatly describes the contractual
theories that apply to this tale of Shrek's
Faustian bargain with the evil
Rumpelstiltskin, as described in the IMDB
summary, "to get back to feeling like a
real ogre again, but when he's duped and sent
to a twisted version of Far Far Away — where
Rumpelstiltskin is king, ogres are hunted, and
he and Fiona have never met — he
sets out to restore his world and reclaim his
true love."

Other People's Money
(1991). Directed by Norman Jewison and
starring Danny DeVito as a corporate raider
and Gregory Peck as the patriarch of the
company targeted by Danny DeVito. Penelope Ann
Miller plays a lawyer, the daughter of the
wife of Gregory Peck, who tangles with Danny
DeVito's character regarding ownership and
survival of the company. See Roger Ebert's 3.5
star review
here.

The Social Network
(2010). Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew
Garfield and Justin Timberlake and directed by
David Fincher with a screenplay by Aaron
Sorkin. This dramatization of the early days
in the history of Facebook is told largely
through flashbacks from examination for
discovery transcripts related to lawsuits
between the founders of Facebook, including
Mark Zuckerberg (played by Jesse Eisenberg).
Aside from the litigation issues itself, there
are stories of legal intrigue relating to
private equity investment and the role played
by Sean Parker of Napster fame (played by
Justin Timberlake). issues of intellectual
property, and issues of privacy law.

13th
(2016). Directed by Ava DuVernay. This
documentary, nominated for best documentary in
2016 by the Academy Awards and by the same
film-maker of Selma,
takes its title from the
13th Amendment of the US Constitution,
which abolished slavery. By focusing on the
disproportionate amount of African-Americans
(and other people of color) in US jails, the
film discusses US history following the
abolishment of slavery and the extent to which
the exception in the 13th amendment for
"punishment for crime" has substituted the
initial form of abolished slavery into one
that has seen Jim Crow laws, segregation, and
mass incarceration as a new form of slavery.
The movie has a
very high approval rating on Rotten
Tomatoes, hovering in the 97% range.

Anatomy
of a Murder (1959). Starring
Jimmy Stewart, Lee Remick, Ben Gazzara,
directed by Otto Preminger. A courtroom drama
involving a murder trial where the accused, a
lieutenant in the army, is charged with
murdering a bar owner who had raped his wife.
Will the defence of temporary insanity
prevail? Multiple Academy Award nominations.
Read an
online review from the New York Times.

And
Justice for All (1979).
Starring Al Pacino, directed by Norman Jewison
(a University of Toronto graduate). Al Pacino
defends a judge who is charged with rape, a
judge with whom he has had run-ins in the past.
A good examination of the justice system,
corruption and legal ethics. Read
Roger Ebert's review (3 stars).

Beyond a Reasonable Doubt
(2009). Starring Michael Douglas, Jesse
Metcalfe, and Amber Tamblyn. An extremely
implausible story (and Hollywood remake of
a better 1956 version). It tells the
story of a journalist who suspects that the
publicity-seeking District Attorney (played by
Michael Douglas) has too good of a conviction
rate and might be causing evidence to be
planted at crime scenes. What the journalist
does next is stupid (in allowing himself to be
framed for murder in order to see if the D.A.
will plant evidence against him).
Stereotypical courtroom scenes with a "You
better be going somewhere counsellor" judge.
Read the Rotten Tomatoes reviews
here.

Body
Heat (1981): Although
not really law-related per se, this drama,
directed by Lawrence Kasdan, tells the story
of a not very reputable small town lawyer,
played by William Hurt, and his affair with a
married woman, played by Kathleen Turner, and
their plot to murder her husband. Read Roger
Ebert's review
here.

Body of Evidence
(1993). Starring Madonna, Willem Dafoe, Joe
Mantegna, Anne Archer, and one of Julianne
Moore's earlier movie roles. A fairly
implausible story of an accused (play by
Madonna) charged with murdering a wealthy old
man for his money (through sex). Joe Mantegna
plays the prosecutor; Willem Dafoe plays her
lawyer. Many stereotypical courtroom scenes.
See the original New York Times review
here.

Capturing
the Friedmans (2003). Directed by Andrew
Jarecki. A captivating documentary of a high
school teacher, his wife and their three sons
and their involvement in the criminal justice
system when the father and youngest son are
charged with sexual crimes involving children.
The movie's tagline – "Who do you believe?" –
is reflected in the questions raised by the
director regarding the prosecution and defence
of the accused. Read Roger
Ebert's online review (3.5 out of 4 stars).

The Central Park Five
(2012). Directed by Ken Burns, Sarah Burns and
David McMahon. This documentary tells the
stories of five young black men who in 1989
were charged and convicted of a grisly rape in
Central Park, New York, despite their claims
of innocence based on what were alleged false
confessions. Read Roger Ebert's online review
(3.5 out of 4 stars).

The
Chamber (1996). Starring
Chris O'Donnell, Gene Hackman and Faye
Dunaway. Based on John Grisham's novel, the
story of a young lawyer who defends his racist
grandfather who is on death row for murdering
two Jewish boys. Read Roger
Ebert's review (2 out of 4 stars).

The
Client (1994). Starring
Susan Sarandon and Tommy Lee Jones. Based on
the John Grisham novel, tells the story of a
young boy who is a witness to some Mob action
and secrets and who therefore seeks out a
lawyer to help protect him from the Mob and
the FBI. Read Roger
Ebert's review (2.5 stars out of 4).

Compulsion
(1959): This is one I was surprised I had
never seen. Orson Welles stars as a defence
lawyer in what IMDB
describes as: “Two wealthy law-school students
go on trial for murder in this version of
the Leopold-Loeb case.” Read the
original New York Times review
here.

The Conspirator
(2010). Directed by Robert Redford and
starring James McAvoy, Robin Wright, Kevin
Kline, Evan Rachel Wood and Tom Wilkinson.
James McAvoy plays the young lawyer assigned
to defend Mary Surratt (played by Robin
Wright), the mother of the alleged
co-conspirator of John Wilkes Booth in the
assassination of Abraham Lincoln, arrested for
failing to provide the location of her son.

Conviction (2010). Directed
by Tony Goldwyn and starring Hilary Swank and
Sam Rockwell. Tells the true story of Bette
Ann Waters, a single mother whose brother was
(as it turns out) wrongfully convicted of
murder. Her "conviction" in her brother's
innocence leads to her returning to school -
and eventually law school - to help overturn
her brother's wrongful conviction through DNA
evidence (with the help of
Barry Scheck of the Innocence
Project. Read
Roger Ebert's review (3 out of 4 stars).

A
Cry in the Dark (1988).
Starring Meryl Streep and Sam Neill. Based on
the true story of an Australian mother who is
charged for the murder of her daughter despite
her claim that a dingo stole her baby from
their tent. Read Roger
Ebert's review (3 out of 4 stars).

Dead
Man Walking (1995). Starring
Susan Sarandon, Sean Penn. A well told story
of a nun (played by Susan Sarandon) who visits
and cares for a prisoner on death row (played
by Sean Penn). The movie raises important
questions about the ethics of the death
penalty versus the impact of crime on victims
and their families and spirituality and
forgiveness. Read Roger
Ebert's review (4 out of 4 stars).

The Fear of 13
(2015). Directed by David Sington. This
documentary tells the story of death row
inmate Nick Yarris, who at one point in his
incarceration, requests that his death penalty
be carried out despite the possibility that he
is innocent of the crime he is charged with
(no more details provided to avoid spoiler
alerts).

Fracture
(2007): I saw this movie when it came out and
thought it was a bit silly. It is a
courtroom drama of a young prosecutor, played
by Ryan Gosling, prosecuting his last murder
case before jumping ship to become a
plaintiff’s lawyer. The prosecution is of a
wealthy businessman, played by Anthony
Hopkins. It seems like an open-and-shut case,
but is not. To avoid any spoiler alerts, I
won’t say anything more. Read Geoff Pevere's
review
here.

Ghosts
of Mississippi (1996):
Rob Reiner directed this courtroom drama,
based on a true story of the trial of a white
supremacist (played by James Wood) accused of
murdering civil rights activist
Medgar Evers in 1963. Alec Baldwin plays
the prosecutor who brings charges years after
the murder with the support of Evers’s spouse,
played by Whoopi Goldberg. Read Roger Ebert's
review
here (2.5 of 4 stars).

Gideon’s
Trumpet (1980): This is
one I don’t recall seeing. It appears to have
been a TV movie starring Henry Fonda playing
Clarence Gideon based on the true story
of a Florida convict who seeks the right to
have counsel appointed. His claim for such a
right ended up in a Supreme Court ruling in
his favour in Gideon v Wainwright, 372 US 335
(1963).

Give
up Tomorrow (2011). Directed
by Michael Collins. This documentary tells the
story of the criminal prosecution in the
Philippines of Paco and six other young men
for the alleged rape and murder of two women.
It portrays a criminal justice system rife
with corruption and injustice. The film has a
100% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Goliath
(series) (2016-current) (Prime Video). Created
by David E. Kelley and Jonathan Shapiro and
starring Billy Bob Thornton as lawyer Billy
McBride. Currently available in its second
season (with a different storyline in each
season), the courtroom drama features a
delicious portrayal of a brilliant but
slightly sketchy street lawyer who was
formerly a partner in a large Los Angeles law
firm against whom he does battle in Season 1
in a courtroom trial about corporate coverup
by a military defence contractor (with
apparently no concern for the concept of
conflicts of interest). Highly recommended.

The
Hurricane (1999). Starring
Denzel Washington. Directed by Norman Jewison.
Tells the true story of Rubin "Hurricane"
Carter's wrongful imprisonment on murder
charges and the efforts made by his lawyers to
free him from prison. Read Roger
Ebert's review (3.5 out of 4 stars).
Carter was an Executive Director of the Association in
Defence of the Wrongly Convicted, an
organization based, in part, out of Toronto.

I
Will be Murdered (2013).
This documentary, directed by Justin Webster,
tells the story of Rodrigo Rosenberg, a
Guatemalan lawyer, who predicted his own
murder, suggesting by video that if he was
found murdered that he was killed by the
President. This fascinating film documents a
number of conspiracy theory twists and turns.

In
the Name of the Father
(1993): Based (loosely,
as noted by Roger Ebert) on the true
story of the
Guildford Four wrongfully accused of an
IRA bombing of a British pub in 1974, this
drama has Emma Thompson playing the
hard-working defence lawyer and focuses on the
trials and tribulations of Gerry Conlon
(Daniel Day-Lewis) and his father (Pete
Postlethwaite) wrongfully convicted for the
crimes. Read Roger Ebert's review
here.

Incident
at Oglala (1992). A
documentary narrated by Robert Redford and
directed by Roger Apted. Tells the story of
Leonard Pelletier who was, some say,
wrongfully convicted of the murder of two FBI
agents on the Pine Ridge reservation in South
Dakota. Read Roger
Ebert's review (3 out of 4 stars).

Inherit
the Wind (1960). Starring
Spencer Tracy, Frederic March. Loosely based on
the true story of the 1925 "Scopes monkey trial"
involving the prosecution of a teacher for
teaching Darwin's theories of evolution. Read an
online review.

Jagged
Edge (1985). Starring Glenn
Close, Jeff Bridges. A fairly absurd murder
mystery / trial movie in which the defence
lawyer (played by Close) start to fall in love
with her client (played by Bridges), who is
accused of murdering his wealthy wife. Read Roger
Ebert's review (3.5 out of 4 stars).

The
Judge (2014 film). Starring
Robert Duvall as the judge and Robert Downey,Jr
as his son, a lawyer who ends up defending his
father in court. Despite having these two strong
lead actors, the movie was not well-received, in
party due to its schmaltzy story line. Not
necessarily recommended.

Just
Cause (1995). Starring Sean
Connery, Laurence Fishburne. The story of a
young man accused of murder and facing the
electric chair. Can Law Professor Paul
Armstrong (played by Sean Connery) save his
client? Read Roger
Ebert's review (2 out of 4 stars).

Kids for Cash
(2013). Directed by Robert May. This documentary
tells the story of the "kids for cash scandal"
involving private juvenile jails and allegations
against two judges who were alleged to have
received payments from these private facilities
for sentencing young offenders to those
institutions.

Legal
Eagles (1986). Starring Robert
Redford, Debra Winger and Darryl Hannah. A
prosecutor (played by Redford) starts to fall
for a defence lawyer (played by Winger) and gets
involved with her defence of an off-the-wall
performance artist (planned by Hannah). Read the
original New York Times review
here.

Let
Him Have It (1991). Based on a
true story in the early 1950's in England where
two young men are tried for and found guilty of
the murder of a policeman. One of the young men
avoids the death penalty because of his age but
the other is hanged, despite his having the
mental capacity of a young child. Gripping
courtroom scenes (based on actual transcripts).
An excellent movie. Read Roger
Ebert's review (3.5 out of 4 stars).

Long Shot
(2017). This short documentary, available on Netflix Canada,
tells the story of Juan Catalan, convicted for a
murder he says he didn't commit in Los Angeles and
the efforts of his lawyer, Todd Melnik. If you
have not heard of the "long shot" involved in his
defence, I have intentionally not described what
happens. Essential viewing.

M(1931). Directed by Fritz Lang.
Tells the story of a child murderer in Germany
and the police hunt to track him down,
resulting in a “staged” trial used to force a
confession from the accused and obtain a
conviction, making the point of the importance
of legal representation in criminal trials to
ensure justice, even for the most abhorrent
crimes.

Making a Murderer(2015, 2018). This 10-episode
documentary with a 10-episode second season
released in 2018 (and both available on Netflix Canada),
tells the story of Steven Avery, and his fight
within the Wisconsin judicial system regarding
his wrongful conviction for rape and his fight
with the police officers who put in him jail
(note: this summary is brief to avoid including
spoiler alerts). A compelling story.

Murder
in the First (1995).
Starring Christian Slater, Kevin Bacon and
Gary Oldman. Christian Slater plays a young
lawyer who takes on the case of a prisoner of
Alcatraz who is wrongfully put into solitary
confinement for years and becomes insane as a
result. Strong courtroom (and prison) scenes
Read Roger
Ebert's review (2 of out 4 stars).

Music
Box (1989): I remember
seeing this movie as a young lawyer being
bothered by the improbability or
inappropriateness of a daughter representing
her father against charges of war crimes. That
said, Jessica Lange plays the daughter/lawyer,
with Armin Mueller-Stahl playing her father, a
Hungarian immigrant, accused with war crimes
based on recently released documents. Read
Roger Ebert's review
here.

My Cousin Vinny (1992).
Starring Joe Pesci, Marisa Tomei (and Fred
Gwynne as the Judge). A funny courtroom drama
in which a bumbling and newly-called New York
lawyer (played by Pesci) is asked by his
nephew and his nephew's friend to save them
from wrongful murder charges in a "redneck"
Alabama court system. Lots of good laughs as
the Pesci character brings his "northern"
street smarts to the South. Read Roger
Ebert's review (2.5 out of 4 stars).

OJ:
Made in America (2016).
Directed by Ezra Edelman. This documentary,
which runs close to 8 hours long, recounts the
well-documented OJ Simpson trial by putting
the trial into the context of race relations
and police-citizen interactions in Los Angeles
in light of the Rodney King beating and other
events. The documentary has a
Rotten Tomatoes rating in the high 90% range.

Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at
Robin Hood Hills (1996). A documentary by Joe
Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky about the
prosecution of 3 teenagers in Arkansas for the
brutal murder of 3 young boys. The movie
raises doubts about the guilt of the accused
and the criminal justice system in general.
Read the original New York Times
review
here.

Presumed
Innocent (1990). Stars
Harrison Ford, Brian Dennehy. Based on the
novel by Scott Turow, Harrison Ford plays the
character of D.A. Rusty Sabich, who finds
himself accused of the murder of his former
girlfriend. A well-told, gripping drama. Read
Roger
Ebert's review (3.5 out of 4 stars).

Primal
Fear (1996). Stars Richard
Gere, Laura Linney, Edward Norton. Richard
Gere plays a high-powered lawyer who takes on
a case to defend a young man (played by
Norton) who is charged with the murder of a
Catholic priest. The case is not
straightforward and twists abound. Read Roger
Ebert's review (3.5 out of 4 stars).

The Reader
(2008). Directed by Stephen Daldry and
starring Kate Winslet and Ralph Fiennes. This
historical drama recounts a war crimes trial
stemming from the role of the character Hanna
Schmitz, an SS guard (played by Kate Winslet
who won the best actress Oscar for her role).
Read Roger Ebert's review here (3.5/4 stars).

Red
Corner(1997).Richard
Gere stars as an American television executive
in China who ends up being charged with the
murder of a Chinese girl he meets in the bar the
night before, Bai Ling plays his defence lawyer
with the movie focusing on the "challenges"
within the Chinese criminal legal system. Roger
Ebert, who was not a fan of this movie,
describes it in part as "a xenophobic travelogue
crossed with Perry Mason." Read his 2 star
review
here.

Reversal
of Fortune (1990). Starring
Glenn Close, Jeremy Irons and Ron Silver.
Based on the true life story where Harvard Law
Professor Alan Dershowitz agrees to handle the
appeal of the conviction of socialite Claus
von Bulow for the attempted murder of his
wife. Good dramatization of the work done by
Dershowitz and his students in preparing for
the appeal. Read Roger
Ebert's review (4 out of 4 stars).

Roman
J. Israel, Esq. (2017).
Starring Denzel Washington & Colin
Farrell. Written and directed by Dan Gilroy.
This lawyer drama brought Denzel Washington an
Oscar nomination for Best Actor (won that year
by Gary Goldman for his performance of Winston
Churchill). The titular lawyer is in a
two-person law firm in Los Angeles where his
skills are more towards research and writing
regarding his belief the plea bargaining
system is unjust. Circumstances cause him to
come to work at a large law firm under the
guidance of a lawyer played by Colin Farrell
where the main character is placed in
difficult circumstances that test his
conscience. Read the review here
by David Edelstein in Vulture.

The
Secret in Their Eyes (El secreto de
sus ojos) (2009). An
Argentinian film directed by Juan José
Campanella that wo.n the Oscar for Best
Foreign Language Film in 2009. It is best
described as a crime thriller telling the
story of a retired criminal investigator who
reunites with a women, now a judge, 25 years
after they were both involved in the
investigation of a brutal rape and murder.
Read Roger Ebert's 4 star review
here.

Selma(2015).
Directed by Ava DuVernay and starring David
Oyelowo and Carmen Ejogo. This movie tells the
story of the human rights activism of Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr., and his campaign for
equal voting rights in the American South. It
has a 99% rating on Rotten
Tomatoes. Available here on iTunes.

The
Shawshank Redemption (1994).
Starring Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman. A prison
drama telling the story of Andy Dufresne
(played by Robbins) who is sentenced to jail
in the 1940's for the murder of his wife and
her lover. He develops a unique friendship
with a prisoner named "Red" (played by Morgan
Freeman) as the two men pass their lives,
seeking for meaning, in a drab, dreary prison
environment. Read Roger
Ebert's review (3.5 out of 4 stars).

Suspect
(1987). Starring Cher, Dennis Quaid and
others. Cher plays a public defender who takes
on the case of a homeless man charged with the
murder of a legal secretary. Dennis Quaid is
on the jury and thinks the accused likely did
not commit the crime and sets out, along with
Cher, to find out who committed the murder.
Fairly preposterous but entertaining if you
suspend your disbelief. Read Roger Ebert's 2.5
of 4 stars review here.

Sweet Country(2017).
Starring Hamilton Morris, Sam Neill, Bryan
Brown as Sergeant Fletcher. This movie tells
the story of Sam Kelly, an aboriginal farmer
(played by Hamilton Morris), who is charged
with murder of a white war veteran when
acting in self-defence to an attack by the
war veteran. Includes an interesting outdoor
courtroom scene and raises serious questions
about justice for aboriginal people. Read
the review here from Variety.

The
Thin Blue Line (1988).
Documentary, directed by Errol Morris. A
gripping documentary of the tale of two men
involved in the murder of a police officer in
Texas where one of the men ends up on Death
Row for the murder when, in retrospect, it
appears he may have been railroaded for the
crime. Read Roger
Ebert's review (3.5 out of 4 stars).

A
Time to Kill (1996).
Starring Matthew McConaughey, Sandra Bullock,
Samuel L. Jackson, Kevin Spacey. Another of
several movies based on a John Grisham novel.
This one tells the story of a young lawyer
(played by McConaughey) who takes on a case in
the South defending a black man who is charged
with killing the two white men who raped his
daughter. Standard Grisham fare, well-acted
and relatively entertaining as a courtroom
drama. Read Roger
Ebert's review (3 out of 4 stars).

To
Kill a Mockingbird (1962).
Starring Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch. A solid
dramatization of Harper Lee's novel telling the
story of Atticus Finch and his daughter Scout
and how Atticus defends a black man wrongfully
charged with rape in a racially-biased
environment. Peck won the Best Actor Oscar. Read
Roger Ebert's review here.

An Unreal Dream: The
Michael Morton Story (2013).
Directed by Al Reinert and John Dean. This
award-winning documentary tells the true-life
story of Michael Morton's
struggle to prove his innocence in the murder
of his wife through the use of DNA evidence
and the help of his lawyers, John Raley (of
Texas) and Nina Morrison (of the Innocence Project). Read
the Variety review here.

Very
Bad Things (1998). Stars Jon Favreau,
Christian Slater, Daniel Stern and Cameron
Diaz. Note: This movie may be
offensive for some viewers. Not for all
tastes, this "dark humour" movie follows a
group of friends on a bachelor party to Las
Vegas when something goes horribly wrong.
Issues of criminal law abound (mens rea,
actus reus, criminal conspiracy). Read
Roger
Ebert's online review (1 out of 4 stars).

The
Winslow Boy (1999): For
some reason, I never saw this David
Mamet-directed movie, based on the play by
Terence Rattigan that loosely tells the story
of
George Archer-Shee, a British naval
cadet accused of stealing a postal order in
1910. In the movie – as in real life – the
family defends the honour of the young lad who
is eventually exonerated. However, in what was
a first of its kind, the family then goes on
to petition the U.K. Parliament for
compensation for the wrongful prosecution.
Read Roger Ebert's review
here.

The
Witness (2016). Directed by
James Solomon. This documentary follows
William Genovese, the brother of Kitty
Genovese, as he seeks to better
understand his sister's death in Queen's, New
York, in 1964, a crime made famous by
so-called "bystander apathy" where it was
alleged over 30 persons witnessed or heard the
crime being committed but failed to get
involved. It has a
Rotten Tomatoes rating in the 90% range.

Witness
for the Prosecution (1957).
Starring Tyrone Power, Marlene Dietrich and
Charles Laughton. Based on the novel by Agatha
Christie, Charles Laughton plays the lawyer
defending Leonard Vole, charged with the
murder of a rich, middle-aged widow. The
problem, however, is that the accused's alibi
rests with his wife, who has decided to be a
witness for the prosecution. Read the original
New York Times review
here.

(1956). Directed by Alfred
Hitchcock and starring Henry Fonda and Vera
Miles. This drama tells the story of a man
(played by Henry Fonda) wrongfully prosecuted
for robbery. Read the review here from 1956 from The
New York Times.

Young
Mr. Lincoln (1939):
John Ford directs Henry Fonda as the young
Abraham Lincoln in his early career as a
lawyer, telling the tale of his defence of two
men charged with murder. Read the original New
York Times review
here.

The
Young Philadelphians
(1959): We of course have seen Paul Newman as
a “veteran” lawyer in The
Verdict. Here he plays a young,
rising lawyer in Philadelphia. This is another
“older” movie I have not seen. From
the plot summary from the Wikipedia entry,
it seems like quite a soap opera, with lots of
marital infidelities and social/class status
with Newman rising through the ranks in his
law firm, ultimately defending a friend on a
murder charge. Read the original New
York Times review
here.

Z
(1969). This Greek crime thriller dealing with
the assassination of a liberal political leader
in the era of a military dictatorship won the
Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in
1969 and stars Yves Montand, Irene Papas and
Jean-Louis Trintignant. The Wikipedia entry (here
- I have yet to see the movie) recounts a
corrupt legal system and the cover-up of a fatal
car accident where witnesses disappear and the
prosecutor is removed from the case, among other
interferences with justice. Read Roger Ebert's 4
star review
here.

Absence
of Malice(1981). Directed by Sydney
Pollack and starring Paul Newman and Sally
Field. Ostensibly a story about ethical
journalism, the story involves issues of
newspaper libel and
the defence of absence of malice when an
investigative reporter (played by Sally Field)
publishes potentially defamatory stories about
a Florida businessman (play by Paul Newman)
who might have shady ties that connects him to
the murder of a labour leader. Read the
original New York Times review
here.

Denial
(2016). Directed by Mick
Jackson, written by David Hare. This British
courtroom drama tells the true story of
American history professor, Deborah Lipstadt
(played by Rachel Weisz), sued for libel in
the UK by alleged Holocaust denier, David
Irving (played by Timothy Spall). Tom
Wilkinson and Andrew Scott play the lawyers
defending Lipstadt. Although we did not
realize it at the time, my wife and I saw the
filming of this movie at the Royal Courts of
Justice during the week of 18 January 2016
while driving by in the London
19 bus where we saw Timothy Spall being
filmed on the courtroom steps. The movie has
consistently had a
Rotten Tomatoes rating in the 80% range
since being released.

A
Civil Action (1998).
Starring John Travolta, Robert Duvall. A well
told story based on Jonathan Harr's book of a
true story involving a class action lawsuit
against environmental polluters that involves
multiple ups and downs including the potential
bankruptcy of the lawyer (played by John
Travolta) handling the case. Read Roger
Ebert's review (3.5 out of 4 stars).

Class
Action (1991). Starring Gene
Hackman, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio. An
unlikely scenario where father and daughter
act on opposite sides on a products liability
case involving cars that explode. He is the
liberal plaintiff's lawyer, representing the
underdog, she is a corporate type, acting for
the defendant. Read Roger
Ebert's review (3 out of 4 stars).

Erin
Brockovich (2000). Starring
Julia Roberts, Albert Finney. Tells the now
well known story of Erin Brockovich, the legal
assistant who starts to unearth environmental
contamination by a large utility company. Read
Roger
Ebert's review (2 out of 4 stars).

Michael
Clayton (2007). Starring
George Clooney, Tilda Swinton and Tom
Wilkinson. This movie tells the story of
lawyer Michael Clayton, played by Clooney, who
is described as the law firm's "fixer" or
"janitor," cleaning up the "messes" of the
firm or its clients. In this case, it is a
large corporate client sued for environmental
pollution (Swinton is superb as the in-house
general counsel), represented by a lawyer
(played by Wilkinson) from the firm who
suffers a nervous breakdown, thereby
jeopardizing the client's defence. Read
Roger Ebert's review (4 out of 4 stars).

Two Weeks' Notice
(2002). A fairly silly romantic comedy / drama
in which Sandra Bullock, as a Harvard
law-trained lawyer and environmental protester
ends up working as in-house counsel for a real
estate developer played by Hugh Grant who
hires Bullock's character on the promise to
not demolish several local landmarks. Hugh
Grant turns out to be a difficult boss causing
Bullock to quit, giving her "two weeks'
notice" after which time Hugh Grant's
character only realizes how important she was
in his life. Roger Ebert gave the film a
generous
3 star review.

The
Castle (1997). Starring
Michael Caton. An extremely hilarious
Australian comedy dealing with, of all things,
expropriation (hence the title, which stems
from the saying "A man's home is his castle").
Some hilarious courtroom scenes.
Laugh-out-loud funny. See Roger
Ebert's review (3 out of 4 stars).

Leviathan
(2014). This award-winning Russian film tells
the story of a Russian man and his wife whose
house and property is targeted by a
small-town, corrupt Russian Mayor seeking to
illegally expropriate the couple's property.
All of the characters are quite flawed,
including the Moscow lawyer, a friend of the
couple, who represents them in fighting back
against the mayor.

Custody
(2016). Starring Viola Davis and Hayden
Panettiere, directed by James Lepine. This
appears to be a courtroom drama involving
child custody, with the judge being played by
Viola Davis and the lawyer by Hayden
Panettiere. Although it debuted at the Tribeca
Film Festival, it is only scheduled for
release in March 2017 on the TV network
channel Lifetime, according to its
Wikipedia entry.

Divorce Corp
(2014). Directed by Joseph Sorge. This
documentary discusses the challenges facing
litigants in family-related litigation in the US
court system.

Evelyn
(2002). Starring Pierce Brosnan, Julianna
Margulies and Aidan Quinn and directed by Bruce
Beresford. Set in Ireland in 1953, this movie
tells the story of an unemployed father (played
by Brosnan) who loses his children to a
Church-run orphanage and his efforts to go to
court to get them back. Roger Ebert's review
here (3 out of 4 stars).

I
Am Sam (2001). Starring Sean
Penn, Michelle Pfeiffer. A nicely told story
of a child custody case involving Sean Penn,
as the father, who has the mental capacity of
a 7-year old. When is 7-year old daughter is
taken by child welfare authorities, he hires a
lawyer (played by Michelle Pfeiffer) to act on
his behalf. Some good courtroom scenes. Read Roger
Ebert's review (2 out of 4 stars).

Intolerable Cruelty
(2003). In one of the lesser-known or less
popular
Coen Brothers' film, George Clooney
plays a famous and wealthy divorce lawyer who
gets entangled on the other side of divorce
proceedings with a wealthy socialite played by
Catherine Zeta-Jones. Read Roger Ebert's 2.5
star review
here.

Kramer
vs. Kramer (1979). Starring
Dustin Hoffman, Meryl Streep. A well-told
child custody case in which the characters
played by the two lead actors are involved in
emotional litigation over who will get custody
of their young son. The movie cleaned up at
the Academy Awards. Read Roger Ebert's 4 of 4
stars review here.

Rabbit-Proof
Fence (2002). Directed by Phillip
Noyce and stars Kenneth Branagh. Based on the
true story of 3 aboriginal girls
("half-castes") taken from their Aboriginal
mothers and placed in a government residential
school to be "domesticated". The movie
documents their attempts to return to their
families across the Outback, following a
rabbit-proof fence. Read Roger Ebert's review (3.5 out of 4 stars).

A Separation
(2011). Starring Payman Maadi, Leila Hatami,
and Sareh Bayat. An excellent insight into a
fictional account of a couple's divorce in
Iran and an encounter with a legal system
ruled by Islamic law. Read Roger Ebert's review (4
out of 4 stars).

The
War of the Roses (1989).
Starring Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner and
Danny DeVito as the lawyer. Filmed in Toronto,
the movie producers rented law books from the
Bora Laskin Law Library to use in the scenes
in the lawyer's office. The movie purportedly
is a fictional story based on the life of
Martha Stewart's messy divorce. Funny scenes
throughout. Read Roger
Ebert's review (3 out of 4 stars).

13th
(2016). Directed by Ava DuVernay. This
documentary, nominated for best documentary in
2016 by the Academy Awards and by the same
film-maker of Selma,
takes its title from the
13th Amendment of the US Constitution,
which abolished slavery. By focusing on the
disproportionate amount of African-Americans
(and other people of color) in US jails, the
film discusses US history following the
abolishment of slavery and the extent to which
the exception in the 13th amendment for
"punishment for crime" has substituted the
initial form of abolished slavery into one
that has seen Jim Crow laws, segregation, and
mass incarceration as a new form of slavery.
The movie has a
very high approval rating on Rotten
Tomatoes, hovering in the 97% range.

Anita
(2013). Directed and written by Freida Lee
Mock. Read Geoff Pevere's review here (from The
Globe & Mail). This documentary
recounts the story and testimony of Anita
Hill regarding her allegations of sexual
harassment against then US Supreme Court
nominee Clarence Thomas, her then supervisor
at the time.

Disclosure
(1994). Directed by Barry Levinson and
starring Michael Douglas and Demi Moore. This
drama tells the story of a senior employee
(played by Michael Douglas) accused of sexual
harassment by a co-worker (played by Demi
Moore). Read Gene Siskel's negative review here from the Chicago
Tribune.

Freedom Riders
(2010). Directed by Stanley Nelson. This is
a historical documentary made to mark the
50th anniversary of the "freedom riders" who
were civil rights activists who would ride
buses and occupy bus terminals to protest
discriminatory segregationist laws aimed
against African-Americans.

Freeheld
(2015). Directed by Peter Sollett and starring
Julianne Moore, Ellen Page, and Steve Carell.
This drama re-tells the true-life story of a New
Jersey female police officer diagnosed with
cancer and the fight she and her
girlfriend/partner undertake for the partner to
be eligible to receive the other's pension. Read
the movie review here from The Globe
& Mail (2 out of 4 stars).

Hooligan
Sparrow (2016). Directed by
Nanfu Wang. This documentary tells the story
of Ye
Haiyan, known as the Hooligan Sparrow,
relating to her efforts to expose the alleged
abuse of six elementary school girls in China
by their principal.

Loving
(2016). Starring Ruth Negga and Joel
Edgerton, directed by Jeff Nichols. A
well-done fictional recounting of the true
life courtroom battle of Richard and Mildred
Loving, an inter-racial married couple who
successfully challenged Virginia state law
prohibiting interacial marriage in the US
Supreme Court decision in 1967 in Loving
v Virginia. Read the
positive review of The New York Times.

The Loving Story
(2011). Directed by Nancy Buirski. This
documentary discusses the ground-breaking
decision in Loving v Virginia
(1967), 388 US 1, that struck down as
discriminatory laws prohibiting inter-racial
marriage. Read the review here from The
Washington Post.

Selma(2015).
Directed by Ava DuVernay and starring David
Oyelowo and Carmen Ejogo. This movie tells the
story of the human rights activism of Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr., and his campaign for
equal voting rights in the American South. It
has a 99% rating on Rotten
Tomatoes. Available here on iTunes.

Counterfeit Culture
(2103). Written and directed by Geoff D'Eon.
This Canadian-produced documentary explores
knock-off brand goods and their impact on
society and culture.

Flash of Genius
(2008). Starring Greg Kinnear, Lauren Graham
and Alan Alda. A good dramatization of the
true life story of professor Robert Kearns who
invented the intermittent car windshield wiper
but was tied up in years of litigation with
Ford to prove his entitlement to royalties.
Alan Alda plays the lawyer. Read
Roger Ebert's review (3 out of 4 stars).

Logorama (2009).
Winner of the 2009 Oscar for Best Animated
Short Film. A brilliant take on American
society and consumerism with a Quentin
Tarentinoesque take of two Los Angeles police
officers (in the form of Bibendum, the
Michelin Man) who track a foul-mouthed,
gun-toting Ronald McDonald who has taken
Big Boy hostage. Included for its clever
use of the trademark parody defense (see my
SLAW.ca post
here on this movie and its implications
for trademark parody). Read a short review
here from Wired.com.

Percy Schmeiser: David
versus Monsanto (2009).
Directed by Bertram Verhaag. This documentary
tells the story of Saskatchewan farmer Percy
Schmeiser and his wife Louise who were accused
by Monsato of infringing their patent for
genetically-modified canola seed that had
drifted onto thr Scheiser farm, resulting in
litigation that ultimately culminated in the
Supreme Court of Canada decision in Monsanto Canada Inc v
Schmeiser, [2004] 1 SCR 902.

Portrait of Wally
(2012). Directed by Andrew Shea. This
documentary tells the story of a painting
(entitled "Portrait of Wally") by Austrian
painter Egon Schiele that was stolen by Nazis
during their occupation of Austria from its
owner, Lea Bondi Jaray, a Jewish art gallery
owner. The movie raises legal and moral issues
surrounding art ownership as a court battle
ensues between the Austrian art dealer who
acquired the painting after the war and the
heirs of its original owners. Read a review of
the film here from the Hollywood
Reporter.

The Social Network
(2010). Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew
Garfield and Justin Timberlake and directed by
David Fincher with a screenplay by Aaron
Sorkin. This dramatization of the early days
in the history of Facebook is told largely
through flashbacks from examination for
discovery transcripts related to lawsuits
between the founders of Facebook, including
Mark Zuckerberg (played by Jesse Eisenberg).
Aside from the litigation issues itself, there
are stories of legal intrigue relating to
private equity investment and the role played
by Sean Parker of Napster fame (played by
Justin Timberlake). issues of intellectual
property, and issues of privacy law.

The
Judge (2014 film). Starring
Robert Duvall as the judge and Robert
Downey,Jr as his son, a lawyer who ends up
defending his father in court. Despite having
these two strong lead actors, the movie was
not well-received, in party due to its
schmaltzy story line. Not necessarily
recommended.

Life
and Times of Judge Roy Bean
(1972). Starring Paul Newman, directed by John
Huston. A humorous movie in which Newman plays
an unlikely symbol of justice in the Old West
as Judge Roy Bean whose judicial
decision-making is often based on "six
shooter" justice. Read the original New
York Times review
here.

Marshall
(2017). Starring Chadwick Boseman, Josh Gad,
Kate Hudson and directed by Reginald Hudlin.
This drama tells the story of the future
Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall
(played by Chadwick Boseman) as a young NAACP
lawyer in the early 1940's defending a driver
wrongfully convicted of raping his employer
with the assistance of insurance lawyer Sam
Friedman (played by Josh Gad).

RBG (2018).
Directed and produced by Betsy West and Julie
Cohen. This documentary, tells the life story
of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg,
including her early days as a pioneering
gender discrimination lawyer.

The
Star Chamber (1983).
Starring Michael Douglas, Hal Holbrook. A
fairly ridiculous story about a group of
vigilante judges who secretly meet to pass
"sentences" on criminals who have unfairly
beaten the judicial system. Read the original
New York Times review
here.

12 Angry Men
(1957). Starring Henry Fonda and others.
Directed by Sidney Lumet. A well done drama
that takes place in the jury deliberation room
where a jury must decide the fate of a young
man accused of murdering his father. The case
seems open and shut until the jury begins to
deliberate. Read Roger Ebert's 4 out of 4
stars review here. There is also a 1997 remake directed
by William Friedkin and starring Jack Lemmon.
The Simpsons take on this movie (with Homer
being the lone holdout juror) is from Season 5
(The Boy Who Knew Too Much).

The
Juror (1996). Starring Demi
Moore, Alec Baldwin. A fairly stupid movie in
which a juror, played by Moore, is put under
pressure by the Alec Baldwin character to
acquit the accused, a Mafiosi, or else her son
will come into harm's way. A strong
performance by James Gandolfini (who plays
Tony Soprano on The Sopranos). Read Roger
Ebert's review (2 out of 4 stars).

Jury Duty
(1995). Okay. I seriously debated whether to
include a Pauly Shore movie and may regret its
inclusion. However, the cast includes Stanley
Tucci. The story, if it matters, is the
comedic notion - stretched for 86 minutes -
that the Pauly Shore character realizes it is
in his interest as a jury member on a criminal
trial to stretch the duration of the trial to
continue to earn his "per diem" stipend. Janet
Maslin's
original New York Times review pretty
much sums it up with this comment: "If you
have odd socks that need matching, you've got
something better to do than watching Jury
Duty."

Runaway
Jury (2003). Starring John
Cusack, Rachel Weisz, Dustin Hoffman, and Gene
Hackman. A good dramatization of the
John Grisham novel about a jury trial
with Dustin Hoffman playing the plaintiff's
lawyer suing a gun manufacturer and Gene
Hackman playing a jury consultant. On the jury
are two jurors (played by John Cusack and
Rachel Weisz) who play a key role in the
trial. Read Roger
Ebert's 3-star review.

Trial
By Jury (1994). British
actress Joanne Whalley-Kilmer plays a single
mother/store owner who sits on a jury for a
criminal trial of a mob boss played by Armand
Assante. The tension arises when the mob boss
threatens to kill her son unless she votes to
acquit. Much drama and suspense ensues. Read
the original New York Times review
here.

Better
Call Saul (series)
(2015-current). Created by Vince Gilligan
and Peter Gould and starring Bob Odenkirk as
lawyer Jimmy McGill/Saul Goodman. This
multi-season TV drama/prequel to
Breaking Bad tells the origin story of
Jimmy McGill and his transformation into
Saul Goodman. Strong story lines about his
relationship with his older, brilliant
attorney brother Chuck McGill (played by
Michael McKean) and his law partner Kim
Wexler (played by Rhea Seehorn). Highly
entertaining.

Devil's Advocate
(1997). Starring Al Pacino, Keanu Reeves.
A fairly stupid story of Keanu Reeves, as
a young, successful lawyer who loses his
soul and gets recruited by a major New
York law firm headed by the "devilish" Al
Pacino. Read Roger
Ebert's review (2.5 out of 4 stars).

The
Firm (1993). Starring Tom
Cruise, Gene Hackman. Based on the John
Grisham novel, tells the story of a young
lawyer (played by Tom Cruise), recruited by a
high-powered firm that has hidden secrets that
the young lawyer starts to uncover. Read Roger
Ebert's review (3 out of 4 stars).

Haiku Tunnel
(2001). Written and directed by and starring
Josh and Jacob Kornbluth. An "office comedy"
set in a San Francisco law firm that tells the
travails of a "temp" legal secretary. Read the
Variety movie review
here.

Legally
Blonde (2001). Starring
Reese Witherspoon, Luke Wilson. A fairly light
comedy about a sorority girl (played by
Witherspoon) who applies to Harvard Law School
in order to "show up" her ex-boyfriend, also
accepted at Harvard. She soon discovers her
pre-law skills serve her well in defending a
client charged with murder. Some fairly
preposterous court scenes, but this is a
comedy after all, not a documentary. Good for
a few laughs if you are willing to ignore
rules of evidence and civil procedure. Read
the original New York Times review
here.

Michael Clayton
(2007). Starring George Clooney, Tilda Swinton
and Tom Wilkinson. This movie tells the story
of lawyer Michael Clayton, played by Clooney,
who is described as the law firm's "fixer" or
"janitor," cleaning up the "messes" of the
firm or its clients. In this case, it is a
large corporate client sued for environmental
pollution (Swinton is superb as the in-house
general counsel), represented by a lawyer
(played by Wilkinson) from the firm who
suffers a nervous breakdown, thereby
jeopardizing the client's defence. Read
Roger Ebert's review (4 out of 4 stars).

The
Paper Chase (1973). Starring
Timothy Bottoms, Lindsay "The Bionic Woman"
Wagner and John Houseman as Professor
Kingsfield. The now classic "must see" movie
for law students about the struggles of a
first-year law student and the battles he
faces with his contracts professor (especially
after he finds out he has been dating his
daughter). Now somewhat dated, it is still a
lot of fun to watch. Note the scenes with the
law librarian. Parts of the movie were filmed
in Toronto. Houseman won the Academy Award for
his performance. Read the original New
York Times review
here.

Philadelphia
(1993). Starring Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington.
Tom Hanks plays a successful lawyer fired by
his law firm because he has AIDS. The only
lawyer willing to act for him in his wrongful
dismissal action against his old firm is an
ambulance-chasing type lawyer played by Denzel
Washington. Well-acted (Hanks got Best Oscar
for his performance) and good courtroom
scenes. Read Roger
Ebert's review (3.5 out of 4 stars).

Rake
(series) (2010-2018). Starring Richard
Roxburgh. This hilarious drama/comedy follows
the career of Sydney barrister Cleaver Greene
(played by Richard Roxburgh) in court with
senile judges and interfering politicians.
Extremely funny with many interesting legal
issues for his clients. Available on Netflix Canada.

Regarding
Henry (1991). Starring
Harrison Ford, Annette Bening. The story of
a lawyer (played by Ford) whose life is
shattered after he survives a shooting but
loses his memory. His struggle to regain his
life and reconcile himself to his former
career make for a relatively interesting
drama. Read Roger
Ebert's review (2 out of 4 stars).

Secretary(2002).
Starring James Spader and Maggie Gyllenhaal.
James Spader plays a lawyer. Maggie Gyllenhaal
plays a secretary. The movie tells the story
of their sadomasochistic relationship. Read
Roger Ebert's 3 star review here.

Billy
Budd (1962). Starring Peter
Ustinov, Terence Stamp. The story, based on
Melville's novel, of Billy Budd, accused of
mutiny on the high seas of the murder of the
ship's Master-of-Arms. Read the original New
York Times review
here.

Breaker
Morant (1980). Starring
Edward Woodward, Jack Thompson. An excellent
Australian court-martial movie set in the time
of the Boer War. Three Australian lieutenants
are treated as scapegoats when prosecuted for
executing prisoners of war. Strong performance
by their defence lawyer. See a good review here from The Guardian.

A
Few Good Men (1992).
Starring Jack Nicholson, Tom Cruise, Demi
Moore, many others. Tom Cruise plays a Navy
lawyer charged with the duty of defending two
Marines charged with murder who say they were
acting under orders of a colonel (played by
Jack Nicholson). Good court room and trial
prep scenes. Read Roger
Ebert's review (2.5 stars out of 4).

Judgment
at Nuremberg (1961). Spencer
Tracy, Burt Lancaster. A strong dramatization
of the Nazi war crime trials. Maximilian
Schell won the Oscar for his portrayal of the
defence lawyer. Read the original Variety
movie review
here.

Paths of Glory
(1957). This Stanley Kubrick film stars Kirk
Douglas as a colonel serving in the French
Army in World War I who, as a defense lawyer
prior to the war, defends three of his men
unfairly charged with cowardice in the face of
the enemy regarding the refusal of the troops
to proceed against enemy gunfire in what would
have been a suicide mission for all concerned.
Read Roger Ebert's review
here.

Rules
of Engagement (2000).
Starring Tommy Lee Jones, Samuel L. Jackson. A
court-martial drama in which a lawyer/military
man (played by Tommy Lee Jones) agrees to
defend his colleague (played by Jackson) who
is charged of breach of duty for a botched
embassy rescue mission. At issue in the trial
are the "rules of engagement" and the
pressures that soldiers face when under enemy
fire. Read Roger
Ebert's review (2.5 out of 4 stars).

A
Soldier's Story (1984).
Directed by Canadian Norman Jewison and
starring Howard Rollins, Adolph Caesar, Robert
Townsend and, in one of his earlier roles,
Denzel Washington. Although the movie is a
military criminal investigation, I have
included it here (and under "Court Martial
movies, even though it is not really a court
martial movie). The movie, set in a military
barracks in Arkansas during World War II,
tells the story of a black Sergeant (played by
Adolph Caesar) killed one evening outside of
the base and the black Captain (Howard
Rollins) put in charge of the investigation.
Read the original New York Times
review
here.

Town Without Pity
(1961). Kirk Douglas plays a military lawyer
assigned to defend 4 American soldiers in
Germany charged with the rape of a young
German girl. The central tension arises when
the lawyer must resolve his guilt in deciding
whether he needs to destroy the victim's
alleged promiscuous reputation contrasted
against his duty to protect his clients from
the death penalty. Read the New York Times
review
here.

All
the President's Men (1976). Starring Robert
Redford, Dustin Hoffman. The dramatization of
Woodward and Bernstein's journalistic
investigations of the Watergate scandal. See U.S.
v. Nixon
(1974), 418 US 683, for litigation relating to
the Watergate scandal. Read
Roger Ebert's review (3.5 stars).

Cape Fear
(1962). Starring Gregory Peck as the small
town lawyer whose family is terrorized by a
man (played by Robert Mitchum) put into jail
on the testimony of the lawyer. A 1991
remake starred Nick Nolte as the lawyer
and Robert De Niro as the stalker. Read the
Turner Classic Movie review
here for the 1962 version and the New
York Times review of the 1991 version
here. The movie was made into a
Simpson's episode called Cape
Feare.

Citizenfour
(2014). Directed by Laura Poitras. This
documentary, which won the Academy Award for
Best Documentary in 2014, tells the story of
Edward Snowden and his whistle-blowing of what
he regarded as illegal or excessive
wiretapping by the NSA. The movie raises
issues of privacy, national security,
whistle-blowing, and state immunity.

Defending
Your Life (1991). Starring
Albert Brooks, Meryl Streep. Only marginally
law-related, this comedy is the story of
Daniel Miller who, after being killed in a car
accident, must "defend" his life before a
tribunal in Judgment City, a sort of waiting
room for the afterlife. Read Roger Ebert's review
(3.5 out of 4 stars).

Diva
(1981). Only marginally law-related. I decided
to include this movie since it was included in
a University of Chicago Law School Film
Festival, presumably because of the copyright
issues raised by bootleg concert tapes. The
movie tells the story of a young man who makes
a bootleg recording of an elusive opera
singer. His tape gets mixed up with a
surveillance tape and he is chased through the
streets of Paris on his motor-scooter with
some of the best chase scenes ever. Very
art-filmish in its look and feel. Read
Roger Ebert's review.

Eight
Men Out (1988). Cast of
many, directed by John Sayles. Tells the true
story of the 1919 Chicago White Sox players
who took bribes to lose the World Series.
Involves court room scenes. Read Roger
Ebert's review (2 out of 4 stars).

A
Fish Called Wanda (1998).
Starring John Cleese, Kevin Kline, Eric Idle
and Jamie Lee Curtis. A hilarious movie in
which John Cleese plays a barrister who gets
tangled up with a group of bungling diamond
thieves. Extremely funny. Only marginally law
related but the funny scenes with Cleese
getting caught dancing in the buff are worth
it. Read Roger
Ebert's review (4 out of 4 stars).

Gandhi
(1982). Starring Ben Kingsley and a cast of
thousands. Directed by Richard Attenborough.
An epic story of the life of Mahatma Gandhi
who started as a lawyer in South Africa and
who end up liberating India from British
domination through his policies of
non-violence. Read Roger Ebert's 4 of 4 stars
review here.

The Insult
(2017). Directed by Ziad Doueiri. Nominated
for an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film,
this Lebanese drama tells the story of an
insult by a Lebanese Christian apartment owner
of a Palestinian refugee worker fixing the
gutter at the apartment building that results
in an assault and a subsequent lawsuit that
exposes the complicated nature of life and
politics in the Middle East. Rotten Tomatoes
rates this movie here at 88%.

JFK
(1991). Starring Kevin Costner and a cast of
thousands. Director Oliver Stone's recounting
of John F. Kennedy's assassination focusing on
the efforts of New Orleans D.A. Jim Garrison's
attempts to prosecute the real killers of JFK.
Some nice courtroom scenes. Read Roger
Ebert's review (4 out of 4 stars).

Legal Eagles
(1986). Starring Robert Redford, Debra Winger
and Darryl Hannah. A prosecutor (played by
Redford) starts to fall for a defence lawyer
(played by Winger) and gets involved with her
defence of an off-the-wall performance artist
(planned by Hannah). Read the original New
York Times review
here.

A
Man for All Seasons
(1966): Based on the play by Robert Bolt, this
classic movie stars Paul Scofield as Sir
Thomas More, and tells the story of the
Chancellor of England’s opposition to King
Henry VIII’s attempts to divorce Catherine of
Aragon to marry Anne Boleyn. Read the original
New York Times review
here.

The
Pelican Brief (1993).
Starring Denzel Washington, Julia Roberts.
Another reasonably entertaining movie based on
one of John Grisham's novels. Tells the story
of a law student (played by Roberts) who
inadvertently is drawn into a conspiracy
involving the assassination of two Supreme
Court justices. Denzel Washington plays the
journalist who investigates her story and
helps her out. Read Roger
Ebert's review (3 out of 4 stars).

People
vs. Larry Flynt (1996).
Starring Woody Harrelson, Courtney Love and
Edward Norton as the lawyer. Directed by Milos
Forman. A bio-pic that tells the story of Hustler
founder Larry Flynt and his "battle" to defend
his freedom of expression (to publish men's
magazines and to parody public figures). Some
nice courtroom scenes and discussions of the
issue of freedom of expression. Some viewers
may find other content objectionable. Read Roger
Ebert's review (4 out of 4 stars).

Silkwood
(1983). Starring Cher, Meryl Streep. Arguably
not a law-related movie in the "lawyer" sense
but it is a good movie about law-related
themes, including unionization of employees
and "whistleblowing". Based on a true story of
contamination at a nuclear plant. Strong
performances by Cher and Meryl Streep. Read
Roger Ebert's review (4 stars).

The Story of Qiu Ju
(1992). Directed by Zhang Yimou and starring
Gong Li. This movie tells the story of Qiu Ju,
a peasant woman who fights the Chinese
bureaucracy at pursuing justice for injuries
caused to her husband by the village chief.
The film won the Golden Lion at the 1992
Venice Film Festival. Read Roger Ebert's
review here (3.5 of 4 stars).

The Sweet Hereafter
(1997). An Atom Egoyan film starring Ian Holm
as a class action lawyer who investigates a
school bus crash in a small Canadian town that
killed 14 students. Although ostensibly a
"class action" movie, Roger Ebert correctly
characterizes the movie as a study on how
people handle grief: "This story is not about
lawyers or the law, not about small-town
insularity, not about revenge (although that
motivates an unexpected turning point). It is
more about the living dead--about people
carrying on their lives after hope and meaning
have gone. The film is so sad, so tender
toward its characters. The lawyer, an outsider
who might at first seem like the source of
more trouble, comes across more like a
witness, who regards the stricken parents and
sees his own approaching loss of a daughter in
their eyes." Read his 4 star review
here.

True Grit
(2010). Although perhaps more correctly
thought of as a Western than a law-related
movie, I have included the Coen Brothers
version of this movie for the many law-related
references made by the young girl Mattie Ross
(played by Hailee Steinfeld) in pursuit of the
killer of her father, aided in her efforts by
Marshall Rooster Cogburn (played by Jeff
Bridges) and Texas Ranger LaBoeuf (played by
Matt Damon). An excellent movie on a tale of
justice with an entertaining scene early on of
a criminal trial during which the character
played by Jeff Bridges gives testimony on his
role in capturing and shooting a gang of
criminals.

Whose
Life Is It Anyway? (1981).
John Badham directs Richard Dreyfuss who plays
an artist paralyzed in a car accident. The
movie, based on a play, raises issues of
euthanasia and the right of a patient to die
and the role of the government or doctors in
prolonging life. Actor Bob Balaban plays the
lawyer who represents the main character who
seeks to be discharged from the hospital where
he is being kept alive. Read Janet Maslin's
original New York Times review
here.

Wild
Things (1998). Starring Matt
Dillon, Kevin Bacon, Neve Campbell, Denise
Richards and Bill Murray as the lawyer. Only
marginally law-related, the movie has some
hilarious scenes with a lawyer played by Bill
Murray. There are so many twists in this
movie, you will be kept on edge. Thoroughly
entertaining but perhaps not for all tastes.
Read Roger
Ebert's review (3 out of 4 stars).

Finders Keepers
(2015). Documentary directed by Bryan Carberry
and Clay Tweel about John Wood and Shannon
Whisnant. This documentary tells the bizarre
story of John Wood attempting to recover his
amputed leg that was inadvertenly purchased by
Shannon Whisnant when he bought a BBQ in which
the amputed leg was being stored. Although
lawyers and the legal system do not play a
dominant role, the movie does raise issues of
property law and the maxim "finders keepers."
The movie has a 98% rating on Rotten
Tomatoes.

All
of Me (1984). Starring Steve
Martin, Lily Tomlin. A rich but sick
millionaire (played by Lily Tomlin) decides to
have her soul transferred into the body of a
younger women but by mistake her soul ends up
in the body of Steve Martin, who plays a
lawyer whose body is now partly controlled by
Lily Tomlin's character. A very funny movie.
Read
Roger Ebert's review (3.5 stars).

The
Descendants (2011). Directed
by Alexander Payne and starring George
Clooney, Shailene Woodley and Amara Miller.
This Oscar-nominated movie has George Clooney
playing a lawyer in Hawaii who is also the
trustee of a family trust owning a large tract
of unspoiled ocean-front property. Although
the story focuses on his character's
relationship with his two daughters while his
wife and their mother is hospitalized after a
boating accident, there are a number of
law-related scenes as Clooney's character must
deal with whether to commercialize the
property or keep it in its pristine state.
Read
Roger Ebert's review (4 out of 4 stars).